Corbyn Blocked From Standing as Labour Candidate at Next General Election

Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks after the General Election results of the Islington North constituency were announced at a counting centre in Islington during Britain's general election, London, Britain on Dec. 13, 2019. Hannah McKay/Reuters

Britain’s main opposition Labour Party has blocked former leader Jeremy Corbyn from standing as a Labour candidate at the next general election.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s motion to block his predecessor from standing was approved by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) on Tuesday, with 22 committee members voting for the motion and 12 against.

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer delivers a speech at the office of UK Finance in central London, on Feb. 27, 2023. Stefan Rousseau/PA Media

The motion says the hard-left politician “will not be endorsed by the NEC as a candidate on behalf of the Labour Party at the next general election.”

The motion cited the dismal defeat Corbyn led Labour to as leader in the 2019 general election in arguing his candidacy should be blocked.

Labour’s chances of winning the next election and securing a majority in the Commons would be “significantly diminished” if Corbyn was endorsed, it argued.

It is now down to Corbyn to decide whether to run as an independent candidate in his Islington North constituency, which he has represented since 1983.

Anti-Semitism

During Corbyn’s leadership from 2015 to 2020, Labour was persistently plagued by allegations of anti-Semitism among party ranks.

In October 2020, months after Corbyn stepped down as party leader, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) found the Labour Party in breach of the Equality Act (2010) for political interference in anti-Semitism complaints, failure to provide adequate training to those handling such complaints, and harassment.

Starmer, the new Labour leader, suspended Corbyn’s party membership after he said the EHRC’s findings “dramatically overstated” the problem “for political reasons.”

Corbyn got his party membership back the following month, but Starmer refused to give back his party whip, which means that he has been kept out of the parliamentary Labour Party and has continued to be classed as an “independent” MP.

Last month, Starmer welcomed the EHRC’s decision to lift the party out of two years of special measures over its past failings on anti-Semitism.

The Labour leader reiterated his vow that anyone who plays down anti-Semitism will be treated with “zero patience or tolerance” and acknowledged it is not “the end of the road” for tackling the issue.

He said Labour “will never again be a party captured by narrow interest” and “will never again be brought to its knees by racism or bigotry.”

He invited those on the far left of Labour to leave the party if they oppose his reforms, and confirmed Corbyn himself will be stripped of his candidacy for Labour.

‘Not Going Anywhere’

In a statement issued on Monday, Corbyn hit back at Starmer’s decision and accused the party leadership of undermining the party’s internal democracy.

He said Starmer “has broken his commitment to respect the rights of Labour members and denigrated the democratic foundations” of the party.

“As the government plunges millions into poverty and demonises refugees, Keir Starmer has focused his opposition on those demanding a more progressive and humane alternative.”

Corbyn also issued a warning to the current leader and his allies, saying: “Our message is clear: we are not going anywhere. Neither is our determination to stand up for a better world.”

Starmer’s move has angered some in the Labour Party, where Corbyn retains the support of far left members, especially those aligned with the Socialist Campaign Group.

Jon Lansman, the co-founder of the Corbyn-backing Momentum pressure group, suggested the Labour leader is acting like an “authoritarian.”

“Keir Starmer unfortunately is behaving as if he was some kind of Putin of the Labour Party. That is not the way we do politics,” he told Times Radio.

However, Lansman said it would be a “big mistake” for Corbyn to run as an independent, saying he wants to see Starmer form a Labour government.

‘Undue Interference’

The Labour group in Corbyn’s Islington North constituency said on Tuesday it rejected the NEC’s “undue interference,” which it said “undermines our goal of defeating the Conservatives and working with our communities for social justice.”

NEC member Shabana Mahmood, Labour’s national campaign coordinator, insisted constituency members “do get a chance to vote” but “it is always left to the NEC to endorse those candidates.”

“This is a clear demonstration of Keir making changes to our party to make sure that we can win the trust of the British people again,” she told reporters.

“We are in this position because Jeremy has failed to take the responsibility. I think it was incumbent of him to respond to the findings of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission in a way that would acknowledge the seriousness of what they said had happened to our party under his leadership, he has failed to do that.”

Corbyn remains a member of the Labour Party. But party rules mean he could lose the membership if he does announce he will run against an official Labour candidate.

PA Media contributed to this report.